Earlier this week, more than 100,000 South Koreans demonstrated against newly elected president Lee Myung-bak, as his entire cabinet offered to resign. At the root of this massive protest was not a declaration of war against North Korea, a boycott of the Chinese summer Olympics or even escalating oil prices. It was a treaty allowing U.S. beef imports.
Beef production accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than automobiles. Its insatiable demand for feed grains has raised world food prices to levels beyond the reach of the world#'s hungry and the relief agencies that support them. Creation of beef pastures is the key cause of worldwide deforestation, including the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. A beef-based diet requires more than 20 times as much land and water as a plant-based diet with equivalent amounts of calories and protein.
Nutritionally, beef offers protein, iron, and some B vitamins, but no fiber, carbohydrates, nor most vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, it is replete with saturated fat, cholesterol, pesticides and pathogens, including occasionally, the prions of “Mad Cow” disease.
We should have 100,000 demonstrators marching on Washington to protest taxpayer subsidies to the U.S. beef industry. In the meantime, each one of us can demonstrate our own outrage with beef production on our next trip to the supermarket by selecting from the rich variety of soy-and-plant-based meat alternatives in the frozen foods and produce sections.
Ari Holten
Auburn
Nutritionally, beef offers protein, iron, and some B vitamins, but no fiber, carbohydrates, nor most vitamins and minerals. On the other hand, it is replete with saturated fat, cholesterol, pesticides and pathogens, including occasionally, the prions of “Mad Cow” disease.
We should have 100,000 demonstrators marching on Washington to protest taxpayer subsidies to the U.S. beef industry. In the meantime, each one of us can demonstrate our own outrage with beef production on our next trip to the supermarket by selecting from the rich variety of soy-and-plant-based meat alternatives in the frozen foods and produce sections.
Ari Holten
Auburn
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karl wrote on Jun 19, 2008 10:38 AM:
dd wrote on Jun 18, 2008 7:22 PM:
Farmer's Gal wrote on Jun 18, 2008 1:34 PM:
A) eaten in moderation as part of a healthy BALANCED diet and
B) if you can get meat that was raised and slaughtered humanely and sensibly (not necessarily "organically.")
Healthy animals, raised and slaughtered humanely make the best meat, and good for you too.
And I think that greenhouse gas stuff has been refuted -- if not yet, it is surely on the way, and was never conclusive.
Humans were made to eat meat. It is possible, if you really work at it, to get adequate nutrition on a vegetarian diet, but it isn't how our bodies were meant to run.
That said, we weren't made to ingest all the toxins and crud that make their way into our food either. "
Leon Kapowski wrote on Jun 18, 2008 1:14 PM:
"Its insatiable demand for feed grains has raised world food prices to levels beyond the reach of the world#'s hungry and the relief agencies that support them."
Really? That didn't really start happening until many countries switched production of food crops to production of energy crops to convert into ethanol. Interesting.
That being said, I eat plenty of soy-based foods, along with red meat, and I'm doing just fine. This "greehouse gas" and the horrible effects of eating beef is nothing but a scare tactic. Of course, you're going to adverse effects if you eat too much beef, but you're going to get adverse effects if you eat too much tofu too!
And about the South Korean protests? I highly doubt it was because of the "greehouse gas" put out by cows, or deforestation for pasture, or high food prices. It was probably had more to do with taking business away from Korean cattle farmers or at the very least, our sketchy export agricultural inspection system. This Ari person submits form letters like this all the time, each one with purposefully misleading "facts". It's nothing more than propaganda. I'm not saying you should eat meat if you don't want to, you should do what you feel right with. "
karl wrote on Jun 18, 2008 12:27 PM:
I have cut 99% of red meat and especially beef and steak out of my diet, and I've lost fat, gained muscle, and feel better.
Meat protein is the most difficult kind for your body to process and use. The body wastes a lot of time and nutrients trying to convert it to usable protein--like the protein already in plant-based protein.
Look it up if you don't believe it. The Beef Industry has the power of advertising on its side, that's all. "